A Slow Loris electrocuted in Phetchaburi.

Earlier this week the Wildlife Hospital Vet Team at WFFT Centre received a phone call from the Phetchaburi Livestock Department about a Bengal Slow Loris who had been electrocuted. Luckily this was on the rescue teams way back and they were able to make a slight detour and pick up this injured animal within minutes of receiving the call to help. The team were on the way back to the WFFT Centre from Thong’s Rescue, the gibbon who spent Ten Years in a Trash Filled Shack (see her full story here: https://www.wfft.org/primates/thongs-ten-years-in-a-trash-filled-shack-is-over/ and the video of her rescue here: https://www.wfft.org/wildlife-general/video-diary-thongs-rescue/ )
At his arrival at the hospital the injured loris was examined by the Vet team. The external signs of electrocution didn’t look as bad as it can be in some cases. The entry and exit point was located on the hands and feet but the body was not burnt. The Vet Team cleaned his wounds and gave him pain relief and the care he needed. Yet, as professionals, they know that outside injuries are not the only ones possible. Internal ones can be way more important and deadly. It was a guarded prognosis.
Sadly, the next day it appears that this was a reasonable fear. The poor little Loris died. Post mortem confirmed he died of internal hemorrhage. Electrocution is a real problem, more than a 1000 lorises die every year in Thailand in this kind of accident. Their natural habitat keeps being reduced because of human expansion and as with many other wild animals they are facing new dangers. The initial shock may not kill them but it often results in a fall from height. These nocturnal animals are then at the mercy of other animals and it is often many hours or days before they are spotted. We understand the importance of speed in responding to calls such as this and though the outcome may not go the way we would like we will always try our best.